Off the Garden Path
by bandedbulbussnarfblat
Summary: AU where Quentin gets expelled in 1x02, but keeps his memories thanks to the Emerson. He joins Julia and the hedge witches to learn magic. But the Beast is still out there and they have to stop him. Eventual Quentin/Eliot and Julia/Marina
1. Chapter 1

"I'm so pleased to see you sitting there like you don't have an Emerson's in your pocket to repel any spell to wipe your mind."

Eliza knows. It's all over.

"Well, we haven't tried this route. I'm curious to see where it goes."

Quentin blinks. "What?"

What route? Curious to see where what goes? Eliza is making no sense.

Eliza smiles at him gently. "Shall we spare the theatrics then? There's no point wiping your mind if you have an Emerson, and I think you'll be more useful if you remember in any case. You'll still be expelled, but that will get you off the garden path."

"The garden path?" Quentin says. Like his dream? How did she know? _Does_ she know?

"Everything's connected. Don't overthink it."

/

Julia listens to her messages while getting her first star tattoo.

"Hey, it's Q. Look I know when we last meet that—I'm sorry Jules, I am. I didn't know it, what it must be like for you, and I um, I hope that you're doing better. Um, so I got expelled and they are sending in a Specialist because the local brain wipe guy is dead and—long story. Um, so if you remember or you figured out why it didn't work on you I would like to know that about now because _I need you to remind me that magic is real_. You know, without Brakebills, I'm lost and you're not. You can't help and I can't help you and it's just-"

The message ends and Julia hangs up, takes a swallow of her beer, thinks. She was beyond angry at Quentin for the way he treated her, all smug and superior because he'd gotten into Brakebills. Now here he is, asking for help. She isn't sure she wants to give it or not.

"Congratulations, Julia. Big day." Marina comes sauntering in, holding an apple. The forbidden fruit metaphor of it all is a little too on the nose for Julia's liking. "First star. First of many."

"Yeah," Julia says and smiles.

Marina shares a look with Pete, then smiles back at her. "This is just the beginning."

Julia considers Quentin, if this is something she wants to share with him. He certainly wasn't fighting to share Brakebills with her. But...Quentin is her best friend. Has been since they were children. Angry at him or not, she can't take magic away from him.

"Hey, Marina, I have this friend whose getting expelled from Brakebills. He's going to need help, like I did."

Marina tilts her head and peers at Julia. "Is he any good?"

"Good enough to pass the exam that I failed."

Marina looks intrigued. "Expelled, huh? He won't have any memory of magic."

"That's why he needs us to remind him."

Marina looks over at Pete. Pete turns his gaze to Julia. "The kid who showed up with two other magicians to your birthday?"

"That's Q."

"He has potential." Pete is looking at Julia, but the words are addressed to Marina.

"I like you Julia, and because I like you, I'm going to check out this friend of yours. See if he's worth the trouble."

"He is."

/

Things aren't going quite as planned. Showing up with Marina at Q's place probably wasn't the best approach. Especially since Quentin remembers.

"How did you remember?"

"I had an Emerson."

Marina laser focuses on Quentin. "You have an Emerson?"

"Yeah."

"Give it to me and you're in."

Julia whips her head around to look at Marina. "What? That easy?"

Marina shrugs. "He has something I need, I have something he needs."

Julia did want Quentin here with her, she just wanted him to have to try a little harder. To feel how she felt when she was left out in the cold. She can't hold back her anger anymore.

"I told you to please tell them about me," she says, glaring at Quentin. "At first I thought maybe they would test me again, then they would at least try to come and take my memory again, and then...just waiting."

This is the part that hurts the most. "It took weeks to realize you never even told them about me at all."

"Look, Jules-"

"You were my best friend," Julia says. Were, as in the past. She isn't sure they can recover from this.

"I didn't know what it was like. I didn't. But do you ever stop to think about how maybe you treated me?"

"What? I was always there." Julia says. And she was, wasn't she? Through all the ups and the downs, so many downs, so many times talking him back from the ledge. She had been a good friend.

"You were so nice, you were so sweet to poor little Q who couldn't get his shit together."

Julia wants to kick him. Of course Quentin would take something as good as their friendship and turn it into something like pity. "Don't put that on me, that's your interpretation-"

"Between you and James it was a two for one charity case."

"Why are you saying this?" Julia doesn't understand where this is coming from. Quentin has never mentioned feeling this way before.

"Because that is true, Julia!"

"No, that's not true. I-" Julia starts.

"You know how I felt about you."

There it is. The real reason he's so angry. And what sort of gross entitlement makes him think his feelings owe him anything from her? But that's something they've always avoided. If she doesn't acknowledge Quentin is in love with her, it's like it isn't true. "I don't know what-"

"Admit it. Just admit it," Quentin says, then more softly, "Admit it."

"So what, that was punishment?"

"I don't know, maybe."

They stare at each other a moment. Finally, Julia speaks "Do you love magic? Is it in your soul? Is it like the secret heart of what you always were?"

"Yeah."

"So you know how I feel."

Marina fakes a yawn. "Boring. Are we done talking about our feelings now?"

"Yeah," Julia says, looking at Quentin, "we are."

Quentin would have thought himself above this, were he not desperate. She should hate him for that, but she thinks she may have been the same too. She isn't stupid and she isn't blind—she sees the way these people here treat magic like a drug. But she knows herself well enough to keep it in check. She's not going to become some tweaker or junkie. And she has Quentin here now to help.

If only things can go back to being right between them.


	2. Chapter 2

Doing magic is like nothing else. Doing magic with Julia is like a childhood fantasy come true.

Quentin had flinched at the idea of tattoos; they seemed so showy and obvious. Not to mention that getting them would hurt, Quentin wasn't big on pain. He'd self-inflicted enough in his worst days to not want to indulge in anymore.

Julia holds his hand while he gets his ink, and it's almost like things are okay.

It isn't. Things between them are awkward and uneasy. They treat each other like near strangers, overly polite and at an arm's length. Except when they do magic, then Quentin feels connected to Julia in a way he hasn't since they were kids dreaming of Fillory.

He misses Brakebills. He misses Eliot and Margo and even Alice. Mostly Eliot. It isn't often he connects with people so quickly, and Eliot had felt like he could be a true friend. He doesn't expect to see him again, so he's pleasantly surprised when he shows up one day, looking for a book.

"Quentin?" he says, his face pulling into a tight look of disapproval.

Quentin doesn't have a chance to say anything before Pete is there. "You know this guy?"

"He's from Brakebills," Julia supplies.

Quentin wants to say something, anything, but Eliot looks near disgusted at finding him here. He has to tell him he remembers, he has to.

The book Eliot brought finds the one they borrowed and begins humping it. "Are they-" Pete begins.

"Love wins," Eliot says, blasé and glib and not at all like he just noticed a friend of his with a wiped memory. Quentin guesses that's how he's supposed to act, but it stings.

He follows Eliot when he goes to leave. "Aren't you supposed to seduce me and so lift my spirits that life retains its sparkle for decades?"

Eliot turns and looks at him with wide eyes. "Quentin?"

"I remember."

Eliot sits down the box and crosses the space between them. He sweeps Quentin into his arms and hugs him close. "How?"

"I had an Emerson." It's not the entire truth, but he doesn't want to get into how weird Eliza is right now.

"Where did you get an Emerson?" Eliot asks, letting him go.

"Stole it from Penny."

Eliot laughs. "Serves him right."

His expression goes serious. "But Q, this isn't the place for you. These people treat magic like a drug. They're a bunch of junkies. You can't trust them."

Quentin understands his concern. He'd feel the same, if he were still at Brakebills. But he isn't and there's no other way to learn magic. "I don't have a choice. I can't go back to who I was before. Without magic...I'm nothing. Nobody."

"I get it. I was nobody too," Eliot says. "I'm going to tell you something I've only ever told Margo. I grew up on a farm in Indiana. Becoming me was the greatest creative project of my life."

Quentin isn't sure what to say. It's very Eliot that his big secret is that he wasn't born glamorous, but became it through hard work. Quentin thinks that's something to be proud of, not ashamed of. But he understands, the not wanting to be who you were. "Then you know I'd rather kill myself than go back."

"I do know," Eliot says, gently, more gently than Quentin would have thought him capable. "Just be careful not to get yourself killed here."

"I will, and I have Julia to help me. We'll keep each other safe." The words feel hollow. How can he count on Julia when things are like they are between them? He needs to make things right with her but he doesn't know how. Maybe Eliot can help with that. He and Margo seem solid, he can't imagine there being anything they couldn't work through. Maybe he can share some of that wisdom with Eliot.

"Actually, can we go somewhere and talk? I need your help."

Eliot casts a wary eye back toward the building. "I hate to ask, but-"

"What, no, I'm not trying to get a spell from you or anything." Quentin feels a little hurt that Eliot would think so, but then Marina seems the type who would exploit a previous relationship to get something she wants. "I just want to talk."

Eliot lifts the box back up. "I have to take these back. Let's meet at your place after. I'll bring the booze."

/

"...I just don't know how things got so bad so fast." They're sitting on Quentin's couch in his small apartment. He'd been lucky enough to still have his lease on it, even after moving to Brakebills. Being homeless on top of everything else would have been a real kick in the face. He couldn't imagine crawling back to Jersey to his dad's.

"You found out who you were; she found out who she wasn't."

"And now we're the same," says Quentin. He lifts his cup of wine and drains it in one swallow. "The thing is, she's good, you know? Better than me. She should have been at Brakebills. The test...it isn't fair. You haven't seen her do magic. It's like she was born to do it."

"That's what you should tell her," Eliot says. He leans over and pours Quentin more wine. Quentin suspects the bottle is charmed to never empty, because Eliot has poured them a lot of wine. His head feels a little floaty and he's warm all over. It's a nice feeling.

"Let's not talk," Eliot says.

Quentin is fine with that. He shifts and looks up at Eliot. He's never paid much attention, but Eliot is easy on the eyes. He's handsome, lean but compact, and so very tall. One thing Quentin discovered at Brakebills is that magicians are much more fluid with their sexuality. He's never really felt much attraction to men, only a fleeting feeling here or there.

A bit for James sometimes, but that was always too twisted with his jealousy over Julia to understand. Or maybe he was jealous of Julia, for having James. He's never looked at the situation too closely. Another small part of him that he doesn't like to look at too closely was hyper aware of how good looking Penny was. Had thrilled at the way Penny had held him down when they fought, even while it hurt.

Maybe he's just drunk, but he wants. He wants to know how Eliot's stubble would feel against his face, how his mouth would taste, how his hands would feel bunched in his hair. "Hey,"

Eliot smiles at him, soft from wine and full of fondness. "Hey."

"Um," Quentin doesn't know how to voice his desires, so he just acts. If Eliot rejects him, he can blame it on the wine and they can pretend it never happened. He lifts his head from the couch—the world spins for a dizzying second—and leans toward Eliot. He kisses him, quick and chaste and at an awkward angle.

He feels like dying. Of course he would fuck up something as simple as a kiss. Why would someone like Eliot want him anyway? He should just apologize and hope Eliot forgives him. He should-

Eliot chuckles and brings up a hand to cup his face. He tilts Quentin's head to a better angle and kisses him. And oh, this is nice. Eliot really knows what he's doing. He kisses Quentin slowly and surely, starting soft but turning it into something deep and filthy. Quentin moans against his mouth and brings his hands up to clutch at Eliot's arms.

Eliot moves his mouth from Quentin's and goes to his jaw, kissing and sucking his way down to his neck. He kisses and nips his way down Quentin's neck, biting gently then soothing the bite with little licks. Quentin digs his nails into Eliot's arm and groans. He wants, wants, wants. "El," he gasps out, short and raspy. Eliot is sucking on his neck, and it's good, so good, but there's probably going to be a mark there tomorrow. It's very distracting but Quentin manages to get out "Bedroom?"

Eliot pulls back, looking flushed, pupils dilated. "It pains me to say this, but no. You aren't the first straight boy to kiss me while drunk. You'll regret this in the morning, and I like you, Q. I'd rather keep you around then lose you to some straight panic."

Quentin realizes that somehow he's ended up in Eliot's lap. The lower half of his body is very interested in this development. He can't stop grinding his hips. Then Eliot's words sink in. "What? No, I'm not...Not straight. I mean I like girls, but I like boys too. Some boys. You."

Eliot groans, unfortunately not the fun kind and buries his head in Quentin's shoulder. "You're making this hard to say no."

"Then say yes," Quentin says, mouthing at Eliot's ear. He nips gently on the lobe and Eliot makes a sound not unlike a squeak.

"You're drunk. We're drunk." Eliot says. "Normally I wouldn't care but-" And normally he wouldn't. He had drunk sex all the time. Not sex while the other person was drunk and he was sober, that was a bit sketchy, but plenty of sex where he and his partner were happily sloshed. But something about Quentin was different. "I don't want you to regret this in the morning."

He gently pushes Quentin off of him and rises to his feet. He holds a hand down to Quentin. "If you still want this when we're both sober, I'll give it to you."

Quentin would rather he give it to him now. He accidentally says so out loud. Eliot laughs as Quentin takes his hand with a pout. They make their way to the bedroom and Eliot deposits Quentin unto the mattress. "Sleep it off, Coldwater."

Quentin snatches his wrist before he can leave. "Stay with me?"

Eliot is about to object, then Quentin says, "I promise I won't try anything. Just...sleep with me? I've been having nightmares."

Eliot sighs and kicks off his shoes. He doesn't know what he's doing. Quentin is a hedge witch now. He should stay far away from him. But when Quentin snuggles up next to him, already falling asleep, he knows it isn't going to be that simple.


	3. Chapter 3

Quentin wakes up alone. It's not that surprising; Eliot isn't exactly good with intimacy from what he's seen. He does leave him a gross looking concoction that his note says is a hangover cure. He's already thought of at least a dozen ways he could have scared Eliot off by the time he reaches the safe house.

Julia flings her arms around him as soon as he steps inside. "Q, you're alright. I thought they'd took your memories."

"What? No, Eliot wouldn't do that."

Julia lets him go and looks him over. Her eyes linger on the hickey on his neck, the mark Quentin hadn't been able to magic away. Marina probably knows a spell to fix it, but he isn't about to ask. He gets the feeling he's only there because Julia asked for him to be.

"Busy night?" Julia asks, the hint of a smile on her face.

Quentin feels his face flush. He runs a hand through his hair. "Not as busy as I hoped."

Julia laughs a little. "I didn't know he was your type."

It's not because he's a boy that she says it. Quentin can see that. He's never done anything like come out to Julia about his attraction to men, but he's never needed to. She just knew, and she just knew it wasn't something he was ready to talk about. It's never been a big deal. He suspects that she knew about his minor crush on James, but never mentioned it. He misses the closeness they had back then, before her and James became a thing. James took up more of her time and Quentin was used to having it exclusively.

The more he thinks about it, the more he thinks his feelings for Julia weren't real. He just hadn't wanted to let go of their frankly co-dependent relationship. Julia was, still is, for the most part, his only friend. And sure, he's had a crush on her for ages, but that doesn't equal being in love with her. Maybe he's been approaching this whole thing wrong. He had always thought eventually that he and Julia would get together, get married, have the whole picket fence and two point five kids life.

But that was before he knew magic existed. And to be honest, it was because it was easy. It's easier to imagine it being Julia than to go through the hard work of being known by someone else. Easier to think he wanted her; it was a convenient excuse to keep him from trying to open up to someone else. No, he isn't in love with Julia. He's in love with the idea of Julia, of the best friend turned into lover. He sees that now. Julia has seen it all along. It's no wonder she ignored his feelings.

"I know things are weird between us now, but can we start over? I don't want us to be this way. I was wrong, not to try to get you into Brakebills. I'm sorry."

Julia smiles, a real, genuine smile. "I want things between us to be back to normal too. Friends?"

"Friends," Quentin agrees and welcomes the hug Julia gives him.

"Aren't you two teeth rottingly sweet," Marina comes closer to them and inquisitive look on her face. She looks Quentin over and her gaze hones in on the hickey. "Interesting."

"What?"

Marina gives him an approving look. "It's good to have connections at Brakebills. Your little boyfriend may come in handy."

"He's not—I mean we aren't, it's not like that."

Marina thumbs the mark on his neck. "Looks like it is."

She grins at him, like the cat that caught the canary. "Quentin Coldwater, you may be useful to me yet."

/

Julia is pretty sure that Quentin goes off to meet Eliot. Marina approves, because she tells him to come back with a spell. Quentin doesn't look too happy with the idea, but Julia hopes he does what Marina asks. She doesn't want there to be trouble. If she has to choose, she'll pick Quentin, hands down. He's her best friend. But she doesn't want it to come to that.

Marina and her are alone in the safe house now. Julia can't remember them being alone often, there's usually another hedge around, Pete hovers nearby like a ghost. Julia isn't sure she likes being alone with Marina. Being near her makes her feel things, things she doesn't understand. Things that make it hard to remember she has James waiting for her at home.

She's leaning against the counter, smoking, trying to think of something to say to Marina. She wants to try cooperative magic with her. They'd done it before, back in her first few days. She's done it with Q, as easy as breathing. Marina says it's because their connection that they can work magic together so easily. Julia tries not to wonder what it means that she and Marina work together so well.

Marina approaches her, a sway to her hips. It's distracting. Everything about Marina is distracting, from the auburn of her hair to the red of her lips, to the mischievous glint in her eye or the long line of her legs. Marina reaches up and plucks the cigarette from Julia's hand and takes a long drag. There's only scant inches between them.

Julia feels her heart pounding in her chest as Marina blows out a ring of smoke. She eyes Julia, gaze lingering on her mouth. "Want to do something fun?"

Julia swallows, tries to hold down the butterflies in her stomach. "Yeah."

/

It's just meant to be a bit of revenge. A way of fucking with Dean Fogg for not letting Julia in Brakebills and for kicking Quentin out. That doesn't explain the feeling.

Julia gasps, nerves alight.

"Okay, good job."

Marina is smiling at her, wicked and beautiful.

"Wow," Julia says. "My whole body, every part of my body is tingling. I mean, you didn't tell me it would feel-"

"So good?" Marina finishes, smirking at her. There's something slightly flirtatious in her eyes. "It's high-end, designer, cooperative magic," she says with a chuckle. "It does something to your cells to channel all that juice. Everyone gets stronger."

Julia feel turned on and wrung out at once. This is better than sex, better than anything she's ever had with James. Marina once told her she was keeping James around as a backup in case she failed. Julia doesn't want to say that it feels true, but this new life doesn't have room for James in it. She has magic now, why would she settle for ordinary? She loves James, sure, but it isn't an all encompassing, life changing love. It's not like the way she loves magic.

"How long is he going to be under?"

Marina grins, sly and uncaring. "Well, I mean he might want to kick his shoes off and get comfortable. We cooked up a whopper here. I don't really see him getting out of it, even with your boyfriend's help."

Marina turns her gaze over to Kady, who looks far from amused.

"Mm, I thought the idea was just to mess with him," Julia says, feeling afraid for the first time.

"My idea was to fuck him up, hard, and you loved it even harder." Marina gets up and saunters away. Julia goes after her.

"Yeah, fuck him up, not kill him."

Kady startles and walks over closer. "What?"

Marina turns around with a scoff. "Oh, he's not gonna die. He just might not actually ever wake up."

Julia feels her stomach drop. "Oh my god."

"Hey, you are not going limp on me here. This is game time, ladies." Marina says, sharp and in control. She looks between them. "You got the ball Kady, don't drop it." She slides over closer to Kady, eyeing her from bottom to top. It's blatantly suggestive, and Julia finds herself feeling irritated at seeing it. Not that it should matter, Marina can eye fuck whoever she wants.

"Now go put all that sweet hotness to work," Marina says, and slaps Kady on the ass.

Kady leaves in a foul mood.

/

They're outside of Brakebills.

"Now what?" Julia says.

Marina lights up a cigarette with a bit of magic, sucks on it in a way that's borderline obscene. "We wait."

"When are you going to tell me what all this is for?" Julia asks.

"I did," Marina says, "Bigger, better magic."

Julia is starting to get annoyed. Marina is being purposefully vague, and Julia doesn't like questions she can't get the answer to. "Yeah, you just never mentioned how."

"I guess I could tell you now," Marian says, tilting her head. "No, I don't feel like it. Later maybe? Mm, how about never? That's a growing possibility."

Julia looks away and sighs. This is punishment for questioning her about Fogg. For not wanting the spell to keep him under indefinitely. It isn't fair. But she'll hold her tongue for now and avoid getting in more trouble. Marina in a mood is a dangerous thing.

Suddenly, sigils start to glow around them. Marina looks up and smiles. "They're following the playbook."

She looks over at Julia. "The only thing that can break the spell on Fogg is a Matarese—evil bug spirit of the underworld. About the only way to get one of those into this sugary wonderland is to lower all protective wards and shields in the school, letting any old anyone waltz right in."

The illusion around them falls away and the school stands in the distance.

"Welcome back to Brakebills," Marina says, gliding past her. "Let's go steal their shit."

Julia follows behind Marina. "The old alma mater hasn't changed a lick."

Juila nearly freezes in her tracks. "Wait, you went here?"

"Kicked out three months before graduation."

"So what, this is revenge?" Julia had thought Marina above something so petty.

"When you're here for that long, they can't just erase you. They take you into a special room off the dean's office and remove every memory you make here. Every single magical thing you learned amputated, but those memories are stored."

Julia follows Marina into the dean's office. "Normally there's a shield on this door a hundred magicians couldn't break." She leads Julia to a room off to the side. "Now..." Marina snaps her fingers. The door opens. "Keep a lookout."

"Wait, what's going on?"

Marina closes the door in her face.

A few quiet minutes pass then Kady is coming blazing in. "The Matarese worked. You need to go, the wards will be back up anytime."

Marina comes back out carrying a wooden box. "Let's go."

They make it out just as the wards go back up.

Back at the safe house, Marina laughs. "Wow, wow. I kind of can't believe I ever thought I knew...anything."

She looks down at Julia. "I'd like to share now, some of it, with some of you."

Marina holds down a hand to Julia. "You don't know real magic, but baby, you will."


	4. Chapter 4

Eliot Waugh is a sex god.

That is the only coherent thought Quentin has as he lies flat on his back, struggling to breathe. He just came so hard he saw stars and he's pretty sure he was begging at one point. It isn't fair for someone to be so good looking and that talented with their mouth. Quentin knows he wasn't; but he hopes what he lacked in skill he made up for in enthusiasm.

He rolls his head to the side, looking at Eliot who is propped up on his elbows smoking. "Is it always this good with other guys? I've been missing out."

Eliot laughs lightly. "You haven't seen anything yet. Wait until I fuck you."

"I'd rather not wait," Quentin says, because once he's in, he's all in. The thought is a little scary—Eliot is big, and his jaw is still sore so he can only imagine how other parts of him will ache.

Eliot smiles at him indulgently. "Quentin Coldwater, a cockslut, who knew?"

Quentin certainly didn't, but he's happy to learn. Which reminds him... "I should head back to the safehouse soon. Marina wants me to give her a new spell."

Eliot runs a hand lazily up his leg. "You need help with that?"

Quentin refuses to use Eliot like that. "No, I'm not getting spells from you. Marina wants me to use you, but I won't."

It isn't like Marina doesn't have Kady at Brakebills to teach the hedges any first year spells she learns. Quentin can probably get her to show him one to give Marina. Kady acts tough, but she's got a soft side under it all. Way under.

Eliot rolls his eyes. "You're not using me, I offered. Now bring me a glass of water."

"Oh, okay." Quentin gets up and pulls his pants back on. Eliot has literally just seen it all, but Quentin doesn't like the idea of walking around naked in front of him. He however, would not mind it if the tables were turned.

He comes back with a glass of tap water. "Sorry it isn't cold."

Eliot waves a had dismissively. "It isn't for drinking."

"What?"

Eliot crooks a finger. "Come here."

Quentin goes to sit with him. Eliot puts the glass on Quentin's nightstand and pulls Quentin back flush against him. His arms are around Quentin's waist, warm and solid and grounding. All that's separating him from Eliot's naked flesh is the sheet over Eliot and it's a distracting thought. He tilts his head up for a kiss, but Eliot denies him, then gives him a quick kiss on the temple. "Pay attention."

Eliot moves his hands in a series of simple gestures. The water in the glass freezes. "Dixon's charm," Eliot says. "You can show that to your hedge bitch."

It's a simple spell, but it isn't one Quentin has seen Marina use. He can't think of a practical use for it, unless a party ran out of ice, but then, the use isn't the important thing. It's the doing magic that counts. "Show me again?"

They practice until Quentin has the motions right. He goes to get his own glass of water and tries the spell. It works the first time. Quentin feels the familiar rush from a spell well executed. This spell is probably nothing to Eliot, but Quentin has only a few weeks of Brakebills to pull from and most of those first week were spent learning theory. His list of spells is abysmally short.

Quentin can think of a few ways to celebrate, all of them involving removing the sheet from around Eliot's waist. Unfortunately, his phone rings before he can suggest anything. It's Julia and she sounds ecstatic. "Q, you have to come to the safe house. Marina got her memories back—long story—and she's showing us so many spells."

"I'll take that as my cue to go," Eliot says, dropping the sheet and beginning to pull on his clothes. Quentin wants to tell him to stay, but Julia is in his ear, "You better get here soon. Marina wants to know where you are."

"Okay, yeah, I'm on the way."

/

When Marina had took her hand, Julia had felt lucky. Of all the people Marina could have chosen to share her magic with, she singled out Julia. Now, she feels like her entire body is buzzing. Marina had just shown her a spell for warmth, different than the one they used in the meat locker. This one hadn't required any animal fat, for one, or for anything to be smeared on her face. She feels good, better than she's felt in a long time. Doing magic is better than anything else; doing it with Marina is otherworldly.

Marina eventually moves on to the others gathered around to do one on one magic with a few of them. As the leader, Julia guesses she has to do that, but she likes to have Marina to herself. Even if Marina had made a note of Quentin not being there, when so many others had shown up. Julia calls Q and tells him to come, but she can't help notice he sounds distracted. She hopes things are going well for him with his magician; a romance between a hedge and a magician may seem doomed to fail, but Quentin is the type to like the star-crossed lovers appeal of it all.

"You should be careful around her." It's Kady, and she has her arms crossed, looking sour. All Julia knows about Kady and Marina's relationship is that there's something Marina has on Kady's mom. Kady doesn't really talk about it.

"Marina isn't that bad." Okay, so she had put a spell on the dean that he may never wake up from. But she knew the Matarese would save him.

"Marina is a psycho."

"Look, I don't know what you and Marina's deal is-"

"No, you don't," Kady interrupts. She steps closer to Julia. "You're still new, so you don't know her like I do. She's already making you enemies here. Didn't you think it was weird you got to go off on a mission with Marina instead of one of the more experienced witches? It's because she likes you, and when Marina likes something she isn't good at letting go."

Julia hadn't thought of it. She just assumed Marina chose her because she was good, or because she remembered Brakebills. But Kady makes it sound nefarious, like Marina has some ulterior motive. "I have a boyfriend. Marina knows I have a boyfriend."

"And you think she gives a shit? Marina wants something, she takes it. Just watch your back around her."

Julia doesn't know what to say. On the one hand, Kady is trying to help her. On the other... "I appreciate the concern, but it isn't necessary. Marina isn't interested in me like that."

"If you say so."

/

Marina isn't very impressed with his freezing charm, but she is pleased he managed to wrangle a spell out of Eliot. Quentin finds it a little disconcerting that Marina places such value on being able to manipulate people. Not that he had manipulated Eliot; he hadn't and he won't. He actually likes Eliot and he doesn't want to ruin this new, tentative thing between them. He knows he's only known Eliot a few weeks, but what had Eliot said? That time was an illusion and he bonded fast.

Julia is talking with Kady when he finds her, and both look unhappy. Kady walks away and Julia watches her with a frown. "Do you think Marina likes me?"

The question comes from left field, to abrupt for Quentin to be anything but honest. "More than she likes me."

"Quentin, I'm serious."

Quentin looks over to where Marina is, sees her shift her gaze to Julia and smile. Julia smiles back at her, small and crooked and a little shy. He's seen that smile before, it's the one she used to give boys back in high school when she was crushing on them. "Maybe, why, do you like her?"

Julia scoffs. "What? I have a boyfriend. James-"

"Is a really good guy," Quentin finishes. He likes James; he doesn't want to see him get hurt. But he knows that since she discovered magic, Julia has been pulling away from him. "So, if you're going to end things with him-"

"I'm not," Julia says, a little too quickly. "I'm just...he doesn't know about magic. It makes things hard."

"So tell him."

"Maybe I will." It comes out defensive. Quentin doesn't get why, he isn't trying to attack her.

"Julia, I'm not—do what you want with James, just do what makes you happy."

Julia smiles at him, a little sad. "I don't know what that is anymore. I don't know what I want." She tilts her head and her eyes go wide. "I've got an idea. I need you to do a spell with me. Come on, we have to be in the shower."

Once upon a time, the idea of getting into a shower with Julia would be a dream come true. Now, Quentin mostly just wants to know why a spell requires them to be wet. They go back to his place to avoid running into James. Julia practically drags him into the bathroom.

Inside, she turns on the shower and strips down to her underwear. Quentin turns around—he's seen Julia in her underwear before, a few times when they were kids, but that was before puberty hit. He can practically hear Julia roll her eyes at him. "Q, come on. It's not like I'm naked."

Quentin turns back around. There is a lot of Julia on display. He tries not to look. "Take off your clothes, you need to be wet for this to work."

He doesn't particularly want to, but Julia has seen him in his boxers before. She's been there on the days it was so bad he couldn't even pull himself out of bed to get dressed. This is nothing. He pulls of his clothes and steps into the shower with her. The water is cold, it always takes time for it to warm up. He shivers. "What are we doing?"

"It's a coptic illusion spell. It glamours the caster into the person the person looking at them wants. So if we do this right, we'll see the person we want to be in a shower with."

The spell isn't that hard, it's basically a party trick. It only works while the skin is wet. Julia looks like Julia one minute and the next she looks like Eliot. "Who do I look like?"

"Eliot. Who do I look like?"

Julia says nothing and steps out of the shower, grabbing a towel and scrubbing viciously at her skin. "Julia?"

Quentin steps out and catches his reflection in the mirror. Marina is looking back at him. Oh. _Oh_. "Julia?"

Julia spins around. "James. You look like James."

Saying it doesn't make it true, but it would be unkind to point out. "It's okay, Jules."

Julia sinks down to the ground and puts her face in her hands. "No, it's not. What am I supposed to do, Q?"

Quentin sits next to her and wraps an arm around her. "I don't know, Jules. We'll figure it out."


	5. Chapter 5

The story of how Marina broke into Brakebills and stole years worth of spells is already becoming legend.

"I can't believe you helped her. Fogg could have died," Quentin hisses at Julia. They're at the safe house working on some of the new spells Marina got. Some of the other hedges send nervous looks their way.

Julia shushes him and leans in closer to whisper "I didn't know that at the time. But he's fine, so no big deal."

"Jules, we can't just go around hurting people." Quentin can't believe he has to say this. Once Julia would have known, without him acting as her conscience.

"And what about what he did to her? He stole three years of her life, Q."

That isn't fair, but there had to be some other way to get her memories back. A way that didn't involve putting someone's life in danger. "There were other ways."

"Were there? Because I don't know any."

Julia looks fierce and protective, and Quentin remembers she had her memories wiped too. Of course she would take this personally. "I'm worried about you Jules."

"Don't be, I'm fine," Julia says, then sighs. "We crossed a line, I know that Q. It won't happen again. But beating myself up about it isn't going to change anything."

"It's just sometimes you get a little-"

"Single-minded? I know I get tunnel vision sometimes, but that's why I need you here, Q. You keep me grounded."

Julia grips his hands tighter. They'd been holding them to do this spell, but it's forgotten now. "Sometimes I want this so bad I scare myself. It's like there's nothing else that matters besides magic."

"But there are things that matter, Jules," Quentin says softly.

"I know. I just need you to remind me sometimes."

/

"Was it your witches?" Eliot storms in through the door in a whirlwind of fury. It's funny, because Quentin can remember locking the door. He'll have to add a ward to prevent magical unlocking.

"Eliot what are you-"

"Dean Fogg was attacked. Someone broke into his office while the wards were down."

Quentin sucks in a breath. "El-"

Eliot laughs, low and bitter. "So it was you."

"Not me, Marina," Quentin says. He's not going to mention Julia. No point in giving Eliot another target for his wrath. "I didn't know about it until after."

"Fogg could have died. She nearly killed him. These are the people you're slumming with."

Quentin feels a flare of anger. "I don't have a choice, do I? Fogg kicked me out."

"So that makes it okay?"

"I didn't say that," Quentin says. Eliot knows him better than that, knows he wouldn't want to hurt someone. But he doesn't understand, he doesn't know what it's like to be cut off from magic. "He stole her memories, you know. Marina was at Brakebills and he took three years of memories from her."

"I can't believe you are defending the hedge bitch."

Quentin doesn't think that he is. He doesn't really even like Marina. "I'm not, I'm just trying to get you to understand."

"Understand what?" Eliot says.

"That not everyone has what you do. You have Brakebills, you get to learn magic. We don't, we have to take what we can get."

Eliot meets Quentin's eyes. "Is that what I am, taking what you can get?"

"What? Eliot, no."

Eliot moves back toward the door. "I should have known better. Things never work out between magicians and hedges."

Quentin feels his heart clench. "Eliot, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying goodbye, Quentin."

/

Quentin misses the call from his dad. There's a voicemail, and he feels sick after listening to it. Brain cancer. His dad has brain cancer.

His dad hugs him at the door, tries to joke about his cancer being 'the good kind' of brain cancer. Quentin feels like he's drowning. "Is there anything you can do?"

His dad doesn't seem as concerned as he should be when he tells him about the treatment options. Quentin's mind is reeling, he's trying to think of a spell, any spell that can make things better. "Um, do uh, you feel sick?"

Dizziness, headaches. Quentin knows a few spells to help with those, but that only masks the symptoms, not the disease. There isn't a magic way to remove brain cancer. "Does Mom know?"

Dad says she doesn't, because he doesn't want to talk to her. That's typical for them. Dad leans forward, "I'm worried about you."

"You have brain cancer and you're worried about me?"

"I called the school, trying to reach you. They told me no one named Quentin Coldwater was enrolled there."

Shit. Quentin could lie, but he's too anxious to think of anything believable. "I got expelled."

"Jesus, Q. How?"

The truth is too messy, too complicated. His dad can't know magic is real. He'd never believe it. "I got in a fight." It's partially true, at least.

"Maybe it's an opportunity. I've been thinking a lot, of the things I would have done differently. You were studying finance, but are you a finance guy? Don't try to be something you're not."

Quentin doesn't know what he is anymore. He thought he'd have some time to figure it out. Cost by until he could find a grad school willing to take him. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Yeah, right. Dump out your bag. I'll give you twenty bucks right now if there isn't a Fillory book in there."

Quentin doesn't make a move. He can guess how this conversation will go. He needs to grow up, etc. "Can we not do this? I'm having a really bad day."

"Tell me about it."

Might as well get it out there. No point in hiding it. If his dad reacts badly, then it's only because Mom leaving him for a woman. The whole bisexual thing may be a bit much for him to take, given that. But if he has brain cancer then he may not have long left, and Quentin doesn't want his father to die not knowing who he is. "There's this guy I really like, and he kind of broke up with me."

His dad says nothing for a second, then nods. "Guy, huh?"

Quentin spreads his hands. "Surprise?"

"Not that surprising. Your mother always suspected. Guess her gaydar is better than mine."

"Um...I don't know what to say to that."

His dad reached out and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "So, you like this guy? He makes you happy?"

"Yeah, yeah he does."

"Then get out there and get him back."

/

Quentin goes and looks through every spell Marina has to offer. There's cures for warts, and headaches, a spell for resetting broken bone, even a treatment for herpes, but nothing on cancer. He'll have to ask Marina and see if she knows something she hasn't shared.

He gets back to his dad's and finds him throwing up. Then the awful truth comes out. His dad isn't treating the cancer, he's going to die. Quentin doesn't know what to do. He finds Marina at the safe house, practicing magic with Julia. They're making miniature storm clouds.

"I need your help."

He must sound desperate, because Marina doesn't question him. She merely rises to her feet. "Everyone out." Everyone files out except Quentin and Julia.

"Q, what's going on?" Julia asks. She sounds scared for him.

Quentin goes to Marina. "My dad has brain cancer. I need a spell to fix it. I need to cure him."

"What, oh my god, Q." Julia wraps him in a hug.

Marina doesn't say anything, thinking. After a long minute she sighs. "I've heard of a spell, but no one's ever pulled it off. It's high level magic, and it requires a lot of energy."

"I have to try."

Marina fixes him with a sharp stare. "If you fuck this up, you'll kill your dad."

"So help me do it."

Marina laughs. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. Master magicians can't do this spell. It's forbidden they even try. Probably because it keeps killing people."

"There has to be a way," Quentin says.

"Well, we could practice first. Have you ever heard of Cancer Puppy?"

/

Kady can't believe she let Marina talk her into this. Stealing books or magical objects was one thing, but stealing a puppy? There were lines. Lines Eliot should be crossing for Quentin, but apparently won't since they broke up already. And she thought she was a disaster when it came to relationships.

Still, Quentin's dad is sick and he wants to help him. Maybe with Marina, Julia and her to help Quentin, the spell will work. The others are out gathering the necessary ingredients, she just has to get the puppy.

"Where are you going with Gerald?"

Well, fuck.

Kady turns and sees Eliot looking at her. She's nearly to the wards, so there's no saying she wasn't taking Cancer Puppy off campus. But then, Eliot and Quentin were close, Eliot would want to help. Probably. "I'm going to cure him."

"You're going to cure Cancer Puppy?"

That or kill him. But he's lived over one hundred and fifty years, so Kady thinks he's probably ready for the sweet embrace of death. At least that's what she tells herself to feel better about how she's probably going to help kill him. "Yeah. Wanna come?"

/

Quentin does not expect Kady to show up with Eliot. And Eliot clearly did not expect there to be hedge witches involved. He reaches out and takes Cancer Puppy, cradling him defensively. "What's going on?"

"Quentin's dad has cancer. We're going to cure him, but we need a practice run first," Marina says, eyeing Eliot critically. "Quentin had to rely on Kady here to bring Cancer Puppy because he couldn't rely on you. Can he now, or are you just here to gawk?"

Eliot glares at Marina. Neither of them break eye contact. "I'm in."

"Good," Marina says with a shrug. "We're transferring energy to Quentin so he can do the spell. If it works Cancer Puppy will be cured and we can do the spell on his dad."

Marina and Quentin work together to prepare the ingredients, Quentin carefully avoiding looking at Eliot. He's a little surprised Marina went to bat for him the way she did. He guesses that's what makes her the leader. For all her flaws, when shit goes sideways she's there to help her hedges.

Marina works the spell to transfer energy to Quentin. It mostly involves standing in a circle and chanting something in a mix of Greek and Latin. Quentin has Julia on one side and Marina on the other, with Kady holding Marina's hand and Eliot between her and Julia. Quentin sort of wishes he was holding Eliot's hand.

The surge of energy Quentin gets feels phenomenal. It reminds him of the time he tried cocaine. "Wow."

Marina also slaps every spell on him she can think of to help him focus, to enhance his magic, to make him better. It's almost insulting she thinks he needs them. After it's all done, Quentin does the spell on the puppy.

Cancer Puppy barks.

Quentin isn't sure if that's a good thing. They didn't kill him, anyway. "How do we know it worked?"

"I know a spell for detecting illnesses. Give me the puppy," Marina says.

"It's a hundred and fifty years old, there's more wrong with it than cancer," Eliot says, but his glare has softened somewhat.

"Well, it's not dead, so I guess it worked," Marina says, then grins, "We just cured cancer, witches."

"We'll need to take him to the vet to be sure," Eliot says, but he looks hopeful. "If Cancer Puppy is cured we can cure your dad, Q."

Quentin is a little surprised Eliot is speaking to him. Hadn't he basically dumped him earlier? Maybe seeing Marina willing to help him with his dad changed his mind about the hedges. "You want to help cure my dad?"

"If you'll still have me." Eliot's smile is nervous and very un-Eliot. Quentin doesn't think he's ever seen him look that way. Eliot usually doesn't care about things that much. Maybe he is an exception.

"Keep it in your pants," Marina says and steps closer to Eliot. "You mess with my hedges, you mess with me. So don't hurt him again."

Eliot looks at Quentin when he answers. "I won't."

Quentin thinks maybe, everything is going to be okay.


	6. Chapter 6

"I could give a fuck about finance."

Quentin's dad laughs a little from where he sits at the table. In front of him is a model airplane that Quentin broke years ago. Quentin goes and sits down across from his father. He beings a series of hand gestures and the pieces of the plane levitate and start putting themselves back together. His dad stares in awe.

"This is what I was going to school for. Before I got kicked out. I'm a magician, or I was. Now I'm just a witch."

His dad is speechless.

Quentin leans forward and grips his dad's arm. "Me and my friends cured Cancer Puppy. We think."

His dad furrows his brow. "Cancer puppy?"

"It's a long story. The point is, we may be able to fix you," Quentin says, takes a deep breath. "Dad, we're going to use magic to cure your cancer."

/

James is sitting on the couch, looking at her like she's lost her mind. "You can do magic?"

This isn't going well. Julia had started by telling James that she was a witch, and he had thought she meant Wiccan. So she tells him she can do magic, and he thinks she's nuts. "I can prove it, watch."

Julia takes the cup of coffee sitting in front of James and moves it closer. She's going to use the charm Quentin taught her, the one he learned from his magician boyfriend. It's supposed to be used on water, but coffee is just bean water, so it should work. It's a simple charm, one that shouldn't freak out James too bad. She concentrates and goes through the hand motions. "There."

James frowns. "What am I looking at?"

Julia hands him the mug of frozen coffee. James stares. "How-"

"Magic."

"You can do magic."

Julia smiles. "I can do magic."

James stands up. "Holy shit. What else can you do?"

Julia considers. "A lot. I can make illusions. I can change the weather. I can levitate things. I can start fires. It's like I can do anything."

It feels like endless possibility. She thinks she could do anything, if there was a spell for it. She feels powerful and free. _Strong_.

"Is it safe?" James asks.

Julia's not put much thought into it. She feels invincible when she does magic. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean there's a chance I might niffin out, but that's only if I do something high end."

"Niffin out? What does that mean?"

"You become a being of pure magic. It happens to witches who try to do magic too powerful."

James is looking at her in that way he does sometimes, the way that says she scares him with her ambition. "That sounds like something you'd do, Jules. You never know when to quit."

It's true that she likes to push herself. The harder the better. But she likes to be the best version of herself, likes to be the best, period. James understands that about her, loves it. But it scares him sometimes too, the way she can bite off more than she can chew. She always handles it, but he's afraid one day she won't be able to. They balance each other in a way; she's driven, he's laid back.

Julia rises to her feet. "You have no idea what I'm capable of," she says, angry at him. How dare he take something she loves and try to turn it into something that's hurting her?

"That's what I'm afraid of," James says. "I don't like this. It's too dangerous. Is this why you've been acting different? Being distant? Because of magic?"

Julia feels so angry it burns down to her bones. "Or maybe you don't like it because you aren't part of it."

"I don't think this is good for you."

"Maybe you aren't good for me," Julia snaps. James looks wounded. "Forget it, I shouldn't have said anything. You clearly can't handle it."

"I want you to stop."

Julia laughs bitterly. "That's too bad."

She pushes past James toward the door. "Where are you going?" he calls.

"Out."

She slams the door behind her.

/

Kady slaps a drawing down on the table in front of Quentin. It distracts him from his spell, and the house of cards he was building collapses. "Do you recognize this?"

Quentin looks at the drawing. It's not a perfect rendition, but it looks a lot like Ember's seal. "Hold on, he says, and digs in his bag. He pulls out a Fillory book and flips it to the right page. "It's Ember's seal. Why?"

Kady sits across from him. "Penny saw it. In a basement."

"Okay, so someone is a big fan of Fillory."

"No, he saw it when he traveled. And he saw the beast."

Quentin doesn't know what to say. Penny is a traveler. Who traveled to Fillory. Fillory is real. _Fillory is real. _"Penny traveled to Fillory?"

"Yeah, where he saw _the beast_," Kady says.

Right. That kinda puts a damper on things. "The beast wasn't in the books. They're for kids. There was this woman who drew clocks on trees-"

"I don't care," Kady interrupts. "There's a girl being held in a basement there and Penny keeps seeing her. And now there's the beast."

She's worried for him. Of course. "I mean, the beast could be in the sixth book. I lost my copy though."

Kady rolls her eyes. "Of course you did."

Quentin hesitates. "I kinda think Penny stole it."

"Why would Penny steal a children's book?"

"Because he's a dick?"

Kady stands. "Bye, Quentin."

/

Marina isn't at the safe house, so Julia goes to her apartment. Marina doesn't look particularly surprised to see her, nor does she look pleased. "What problem do you need me to solve today?"

It's blunt, but Marina says what she wants. It's one of the things Julia likes about her. "I need you to erase a memory."

For a split second, Marina looks concerned. "What happened?"

"I told James about magic. He didn't take it well."

Marina leans on the door frame, eyeing her. After a minute she steps back and lets Julia in. Julia steps inside and closes the door. The wards Marina has up are so powerful she can feel them. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"For a price."

"That isn't fair; you didn't ask Q for anything to help his dad," Julia protests.

"Q didn't cause his dad's cancer; you made this mess and now you want me to clean it," Marina says. She takes a step closer to Julia, and another, until they are nearly touching. "I want something in return."

"What?" Julia says, her heart thrumming. Marina is so close she can smell her perfume, can feel the heat radiating off her body.

Marina smiles, pretty and predatory. "A kiss."

"What?"

Marina's smile turns sly. "Don't pretend you don't want it. I see the way you look at me."

Julia considers. It's only a kiss. That's nothing. "Fine," she says curtly.

"Well, I'm waiting."

Julia isn't one to do things by half measures. She reaches up and fists both hands into Marina's hair and kisses her, hard. It's like a live wire goes off inside her. She moves her mouth against Marina's hungrily, like she could devour her on the spot. She tastes like nicotine and apples and smoke and Julia wants, she wants so badly.

Marina's mouth parts under hers and Julia delves her tongue inside, moaning against her. Marina pushes her back against the door and slides her hands around her waist. Julia kisses her until she's dizzy with, until Marina is all she can taste.

Marina wrenches away from her, breathing hard. Her pupils are dilated and her lipstick is smeared. There's a question in her eyes and Julia wants to say yes to it. And why shouldn't she?

The small voice that tells her to think of James is easily ignored. James is the reason she's here, this is his fault for being difficult. Julia meets Marina's eyes and reaches down and pulls off her own shirt.

"Where's the bedroom?

/

Quentin is in his pajamas when Eliot comes over. He hadn't been expecting him and he's throwing himself a minor pity party over Fillory. It's real, but it's where the beast comes from. It's unfair. All his dreams are turning out wrong. First he learns magic is real, but gets kicked out of the school to learn it. Now he learns Fillory is real and it's actually a nightmare.

"Cancer puppy is cured," Eliot says as soon as Quentin opens the door.

It's good enough news to change his mood. "We did it?"

"We did it, baby."

Quentin throws himself into Eliot's arms in celebration. Then he remembers things aren't the best between them and steps back. "Are we good?"

"I may have overreacted earlier," Eliot says. "I'm not good with relationships. When something feels real, I run."

"So I feel real?" Quentin asks hopefully. Things with Eliot are still new, but he thinks it could be the start of something good. Like maybe Eliot could be the one.

Eliot takes his hands and looks him in the eyes. "You scare the shit out of me, Quentin Coldwater. Because you feel like something real, and I don't know what to do with that."

"I do?" Quentin says. Eliot hums in agreement and pulls him closer. He slides his arms around Quentin's waist and leans down to press a kiss to his temple.

Quentin presses up to his tiptoes and kisses Eliot. It gets dirty instantly and Eliot slides his hands down Quentin's thighs and lifts. Quentin jumps up and wraps his legs around Eliot's waist. He breaks away from Eliot's mouth. "Take me to bed?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

/

James passes out after. Marina assures her he'll be fine, it's just the body's response to having the brain be fucked with.

"Thank you, Marina."

Marina lights a cigarette and scrutinizes James. "So this is what you like. Vanilla." She takes a drag and blows out smoke. Her lipstick smudges on the cigarette and it brings a visceral memory of Marina mouthing down her stomach, lipstick smearing over her skin. Julia shakes it away. She has James. Marina was a one off thing, just to get it out of her system.

"He doesn't seem like your type."

"And you do?" Julia says.

Marina tilts her head. "You think you love him, but you don't."

"What? That's—you don't know anything about us."

"I know fucked up," says Marina. "If you loved him you wouldn't have me mess with his head. You wouldn't have screwed me. How long are you going to keep up this charade before you admit who you really are?"

Julia fixes Marina with an icy stare. "You should go."

Marina moves close, close enough to kiss. Her gaze drifts down to Julia's mouth. She grips her chin and places a chaste kiss on her lips. "I'll see you around, Julia."

/

Everyone is in Quentin's old living room. His dad is sitting on the couch looking at them all in wonder. "You're all witches."

"Some of us are magicians," Eliot says.

"Is there a difference?" Ted asks.

"Classical education versus self-taught," says Marina. "Plus magicians have a whole stick up their-"

"Marina," Quentin cuts in, glancing at his dad. "Maybe we should just do the spell."

Kady grabs his hand to begin the energy transfer. Julia, he notices, avoids having to hold Marina's hand. They'll have to talk about that later. Something is up. Once that spell is complete they begin the other. It doesn't take long.

"Do you feel any different?" Quentin asks.

"Not really," his dad says. "Should I?"

"I don't know. The puppy didn't seem any different."

The others begin to file out. "So you're the guy?" Ted says. Eliot stops in his tracks and looks toward Quentin. Quentin blushes beat red.

"I'm the guy."

"Dad."

Ted nods. Eliot and he both ignore Quentin. "You take care of my Curly Q. Don't go breaking his heart."

"Dad!"

"I couldn't even if I tried," says Eliot.

Quentin wishes for death. "Let's go, Eliot."

"Now Q, I'm just trying to find out what kind of young man my son is seeing."

Quentin can feel himself getting red. "We're going to go now."

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Coldwater," Eliot says, all Sunday-school politeness, like he didn't have his tongue up Quentin's ass earlier that day.

"Nice meeting you too, Eliot."

Quentin herds Eliot out the door before his dad can embarrass him further. All in all, he thinks Eliot made a good impression. After all, it wasn't every guy that could say he helped cure cancer.


	7. Chapter 7

Eliot is packing when Margo enters, wearing a purple robe that she lets fall off with flourish. "Does this say Ibiza?" Underneath she's wearing a bikini with gold chains draping her body. She looks positively queenly, and if he was interested in women, he's sure he'd be all over her.

"Yes, but this screams Ibiza," he says, putting on sunglasses and a frankly ridiculous hat with feathers that a lesser man wouldn't be able to pull off.

Todd appears from nowhere on the staircase, and Eliot can see he's trying to wrangle an invite. Maybe love has left him soft, because he says "Go away, Todd, and I'll think about inviting you."

Todd leaves like his shoes are on fire. Margo fixes him with a look. "That's just mean, getting his hopes up. Ibiza is our thing."

"About that," Eliot starts. Margo isn't going to be happy with this, but they will be growing pains. He and Margo need to learn to give each other space, occasionally. "I wanted to invite Quentin."

Margo blinks. "Quentin? He'd hate it."

She isn't wrong, but Eliot thinks he could manage to show Quentin a good time. They'd just have to cut back on the partying a little, and focus more on the fucking. The fucking was a big part of Ibiza. "I want him with me. Things are getting serious."

Margo takes his hands. "Ibiza is our thing."

"I know. It's one of the million things that are our thing. This year it can be me and Quentin's thing too."

Margo sighs dramatically. She's not one hundred percent on board, but she's willing to do this for him. Eliot loves her for it. "Fine, bring your boy toy."

"We could find you a boy toy of your own to bring," Eliot says. "I hear Todd's available."

"Don't even joke," Margo says. "So, how serious are things with you and Quentin?"

"I'm almost ready to call him my b-word."

Margo arches a brow. "Your bitch?"

"My boyfriend."

"That is serious. Is he helping us get a gift to the elders this year?"

Luckily, Eliot has this covered. "I have something. Part of something. We have to dig out the rest in the library.

/

"There's someone else."

It's the best way to do it, to rip the band-aid off. Julia can't keep pretending things are fine. Her guilt is eating away at her. She fucked with James' mind, she cheated on him; he deserves better than that. He deserves someone who loves him the way she used to.

"What?" James says, confused. He's in the kitchen standing over a pot of pasta. Julia wonders if he's trying to cook to be romantic. She found a ring in his pocket earlier this morning, when she was looking for a cigarette.

It was when she knew she had to end things. The idea of being James' wife would have once excited her, now it sent a dull horror through her, a fear of endless monotony and bland normality.

"I cheated on you," Julia says, voice flat. This isn't easy, but she wants to get it over with.

James' face drains of color. "Was it Q?"

The idea is so absurd that Julia has to laugh. "Q? You think I would—with Q?"

"He's always had a thing for you," James says bitterly. And James is more observant that she thought, because she never knew he knew. Or maybe she did, but she never believed he would acknowledge it. It would make things too messy, and James avoided messy. He didn't like confrontation.

"Had. Past tense. He's seeing someone."

James moves and sits across the table from her numbly. His movements are robotic and slow. "Who is it?"

Julia doesn't know how to explain. She can't tell him how she knows Marina. She can't tell him about magic. But she has to tell him something; she can't keep hurting him. The truth will set him free. "This girl I know, you don't know her."

"Girl? Since when do you like girls?"

It's a fair question. Julia doesn't have a good answer for it. "Since her."

James closes his eyes, breathes through his nose. "How long?"

"Not long. It only happened once."

James runs a hand through his hair and swears. "Why are you telling me this? What do you expect me to say? That I forgive you? That we can work past this?"

Julia reaches out and takes James hand across the table. "No, that's not what I expect."

James looks at her, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You're breaking up with me. For her."

Julia shakes her head. "Not for her, but because of her. If I loved you, if I really loved you, I wouldn't have been able to do that. You can see that, can't you?"

James snatches his hand away. "I loved you. I wanted to marry you."

"I know," Julia says softly. "I used to want that too, I don't know when I stopped, but...It's not what I want anymore. You're not what I want and I can't be who you want."

"Fuck, Julia." James rises to his feet. He looks wrecked.

"I'm going to go crash with Q for a couple of days. Give you time to get your stuff packed." She's already got a bag packed and waiting in their room. This is her apartment—technically her mom is paying for it, but it's in her name. James will have to go find somewhere else to stay.

Julia gets up and walks over to James. "I'm sorry I hurt you, but this is for the best."

"Best for who?" James says, something nasty in his voice.

Julia leaves without saying goodbye.

/

"What is this?" Margo complains.

"It's Arabic."

"I flunked Arabic."

"I got an A," Eliot says. "Well, partly because I paid for the exam answers in nipple clamps."

Margo holds out her hand to him. "A bag of dicks is sounding awful good." It was what they had brought as a gift last year. It was lame.

"Ooh, copy that," a man at the bookshelf says. Margo and Eliot look over. He's blonde and handsome, a few years older than them, Alumni, probably. Potentially useful.

"Whoa," Margo says, checking him out.

She'd have thought he was more Eliot's type, with the bag of dicks remark, but he makes a beeline straight for her. "Are you guys trying to translate Arabic, because I aced it here. I mean it was a couple years ago but-"

"Yeah, mh-mm, cry for help," Eliot says.

The man is still looking down at Margo when he says, "Answered."

He gestures at himself. "Mike."

"Margo," she says, holding out a hand. He takes it and shakes it lightly, then holds on a second longer, rubbing his thumbs across her knuckles all while maintaining intense eye contact.

Eliot feels a little annoyed and left out. "Eliot."

/

Marina barely has her door open before Julia blurts "I dumped James."

Marina leans against the door and eyes her critically. "So what? You want a cookie?"

"That's not what I want," Julia says, looking at Marina hotly. Marina can see the desire in her eyes.

Marina tilts her head and sweeps her gaze slowly up Julia's body. "Interesting."

"Are you going to invite me in?"

"Are you moving in?" Marina says, looking at the bag hanging on Julia's arm.

"No, I'm crashing with Quentin. I just...wanted to stop and see you first."

"Did you think you could leave James and I would take you in with open arms?" Her voice is slightly mocking. Julia feels stung; part of her had believed that.

"I think you want me as much as I want you," Julia says. She moves until she's nearly touching Marina, their faces a mere inch apart. "And if you let me in, you can have me. As many times as you want, any way that you want."

Marina grins. "That's what I like to hear.

/

Margo, Eliot and Mike are back in the cottage, working on making their magic gin. Eliot is trying to not be irritated that Margo and Mike have eyes only for each other.

He gets it, Mike is hot and Eliot himself has been spending more time away from Margo and with Quentin. And a lot of the time he is with Margo he spends talking about Quentin. So Margo is allowed to get swept up and ignore him, it's fine. Annoying, but fine.

"Why don't I take over here and let you two have some time alone?" he offers, because he is a king among men. Also, he's Margo's wingman come hell or high water.

Margo grins and holds out a hand to Mike. He takes it with a questioning look. "Let's bang. Now."

/

Eliot works on the gin while Margo has her way with Mike. By the time they come back downstairs looking disheveled and happy, he's all but finished the work. "While you two were doing each other, I did this." Eliot gestures with his hand.

"Eliot, I'm sorry I wasn't more help," Mike says, not sounding very sorry at all. "Listen, I really hope we get a chance to get to know each other."

Damn, Margo must have laid something on him. Eliot is impressed. "Maybe after Ibiza."

Margo links her arms through both of theirs. "Play nice, boys."

"Shall we magic some gin?" Eliot says.

"Please," Margo says, gesturing for him to do the honors.

Eliot does. The machine starts smoking and air hisses. "Well, that was underwhelming."

The machine rumbles and green smoke begins to fill the bottle attached to it. Which is a little weird, since last Eliot checked, gin was not green. He reaches for the bottle. Margo calls for Todd to get ice and olives. Eliot pops open the bottle. Green smoke fills the room and the lights flicker.

Standing in the room is a man dressed like he's in Aladdin, with yellow eyes and curious markings on his forehead. "Oh no. Oh shit. Not gin G-I-N, this summons a djinn, D-J-I-N-N."

"A genie" Mike says.

"Cool" says Todd, and who even invited him and the others that are standing around watching?

"Shut up, Todd," Margo says.

The genie speaks Arabic while looking at Eliot. "Wait, this could be great. I mean, if he grants wishes for real, and we bring him to Ibiza, I mean, that's a fucking regalo."

This is great. The only thing that would make it better is if Mike was gone and he had Margo to himself again.

The genie laughs and points at him. "Okay, this genie totally gets me."

The genie nods at him and begins speaking in Arabic. Suddenly he moves forward, waving a hand and knocking Margo out of the way. Eliot steadies her as the genie grabs Mike and disappears.

"What the fuck?"

/

Julia lays back on the silk sheets and looks up at the ceiling. She feels sated and breathless and her entire body is buzzing with the aftershocks of pleasure. Marina props up on an elbow next to her and traces a finger along the line of her jaw. "You're my girl now."

Julia turns her head to face her. "Am I?"

"Don't you want to be?" Marina says, all confidence.

"Maybe I do. But there are certain things I need first."

Marina runs a hand up her leg idly, back and forth. "Mm, and what are those?"

"I need you to let Kady go."

Marina freezes. "What?"

Julia links their fingers together. "She helped cure Q's dad. She's our friend, kind of. I can't be with someone who does that to my friends."

Marina is quiet a long moment before she speaks. "Any more demands?"

"Only that you're honest with me. About everything. No secrets."

Marina lifts their joined hands and kisses the back of Julia's. "I can do that, for you."

/

"The genie looked at you, he was talking to you." Margo is freaking out a little. Mike just vanished.

"I don't know what he said," Eliot defends.

"It was Arabic," Todd says. "He said 'yes master, I understand' and then something I didn't get, then 'I will do exactly that to him.'"

Margo glares at Eliot. "To him. To Mike."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to. You uncorked him. He could read your thoughts," explains Todd.

"Rude," says Margo, somewhat calmer. She knows Eliot wouldn't wish harm on Mike. "What were you thinking?"

"Nothing, I just wanted him to be gone so it could be just the two of us."

"Gone where?" Margo asks.

Eliot shrugs. "Just gone."

"Try the first place you met him," Todd suggests.

They all head towards the library, Margo simmering. "You wished my b-word away."

"Your boyfriend?" Eliot says, feeling alarmed. That's fast. Too fast. He doesn't want to share Margo with a boyfriend.

"My bitch."

She says it lightly, but Eliot can tell she's thinking of the other b-word. She actually likes this guy. "What is so special about him?"

Before Margo can answer, Todd calls that he found Mike. Mike is standing in the same spot they first spoke to him, dazed and confused. "How did I get here?"

Margo moves toward Mike but the genie steps in front of her. "Seriously?"

"He'll only listen to you," Todd says to Eliot.

"Fine," Eliot says and uncorks the bottle. The genie goes back inside.

Margo dashes over to Mike and puts a hand on his arm. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little weirded out."

Margo nods. "Give me a minute." She goes and grabs Eliot by the arm, dragging him toward a secluded row of books.

"Eliot, I like this guy."

It's not exactly a ringing endorsement for Mike; Margo has terrible taste in men. But Eliot wants to be supportive. Margo is supportive of him and Quentin, mostly. "Okay."

"I want to bring him to Ibiza with us."

"You just met!"

Margo crosses her arms and gives him a look. "So what, I'm supposed to be third wheel to you and Quentin? No thank you."

Right. That makes sense. "Fine, you bring Mike and I'll bring Quentin. The more the merrier."

"As long as you don't invite Todd."

/

A pretty, dark-haired girl opens Quentin's door when he knocks. Julia. Quentin's bff. They met briefly. "Is Quentin home?"

Julia calls over her shoulder for Quentin. "I'm just going to take a walk."

Quentin meets him in the living room. "Where's Jules?"

"Took a walk. I think she wanted to give us privacy," Eliot says. He moves toward Quentin and backs him up until his knees hit the couch and he falls back. Eliot winds a hand in his hair and tilts his head back to mouth at his neck. "I've missed you."

"Mm," Quentin agrees, already starting to pant under him. His hands find Eliot's waist and grip on tight.

"Come away with me," Eliot says into Quentin's ear, biting it gently.

"Away?"

"Ibiza."

Quentin pulls back. "I can't. Not with my dad. We still don't know if the spell worked, we're waiting for the test results to come back and I don't want to leave him if-"

Eliot feels like an idiot. Of course Quentin doesn't want to leave his sick father. His probably healed father. But there's no way of knowing that for sure yet, so Eliot understands. "No, no, I get it. Sorry, baby, I wasn't thinking."

Quentin looks up at him, soft eyes and soft smile and it makes Eliot's heart ache with how much he adores this boy already. "Take Margo. You'll have more fun with her."

"Ugh," Eliot says, and throws himself down beside Quentin. "You'll never believe this, but Margo's found a new guy..."

/

It's time to leave for Ibiza, but the only person Eliot sees leaving is Todd. Who he definitely did not invite. He goes to Margo's room and finds her sitting in front of her vanity, fixing her make-up. "Running late?"

"Not going," Margo says. "Mike says Ibiza isn't his thing so..."

It's not like Margo to give up something she wants just for a guy. But here he is, about to do the same for Quentin. Maybe this is what growing up feels like. "I'm staying too. Quentin doesn't want to leave his dad until he finds out for sure the cancer is gone."

Margo sets down her make-up brush. "Look at us, giving up a party for a couple of nerds." She turns to face Eliot. "But we're okay, right?"

"Always, Bambi."

/

It's late. Margo feels the bed dip as Mike slips out. She's too sleepy to worry about it much. He's a big boy, he'll be back.

Mike pads into the kitchen to find a bottle of water. He hears a buzzing sound and looks up. There's a moth flying about, larger than most moths he's seen. It lands on the mirror. Mike walks over to look at it more closely.

He looks at his own reflection as his eyes glow blue.


End file.
